Women can rule Nigeria, says NRM presidential candidate

Malliya Manu, Programme Officer, Nigerian Women Trust Fund; Prince Chinedu Obi, National Chairman, National Rescue Movement; and Esther Nkem, NRM presidential candidate, at the signing of the party’s Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (SEAH) policy in Abuja. Credit: NRM

The presidential candidate of the National Rescue Movement, Esther Nkem, has said women are capable of governing Nigeria.

She called for greater inclusion of women in political leadership.

Nkem said this at the signing of the party’s Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment policy, organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Women Trust Fund and Heinrich BÖLL Stiftung in Abuja on Monday.

The candidate commended the party for promoting women’s participation in politics, saying the initiative would encourage more women to seek elective positions rather than being restricted to campaigning and voting for male candidates.

“Most of the time, I get discouraged. People ask, ‘Oh, you think you can do this?’ Everybody is saying a woman can never rule Nigeria. A woman can never do this. A woman can never do that, but we can,” she said.

She, however, said the NRM was changing the narrative by creating opportunities for women to participate actively in the political process.

“Not just participating because we’re meant to understand that we just campaign and vote for the men, not the other way around. But now the narrative is changing,” she added.

Describing her decision to join the party as a turning point in her political career, she said the support for women’s inclusion had strengthened her confidence.

“I must say coming to NRM has been the best thing that has happened to my political career,” she said.

The programme officer of the Nigerian Women Trust Fund, Malliya Manu, said the policy was designed to increase women’s participation in political leadership by providing a safe environment for them within political parties.

She explained that the policy, developed over two months in collaboration with the NRM, would establish channels through which women could report cases of sexual harassment and exploitation.

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“The main aim is to increase women’s participation in women’s leadership, and NRM has shown itself to be a very gender-friendly political party.

“That is why we were able to start this pilot phase of a sexual harassment policy within the political party, which we have worked on over the course of a month, two months to produce a policy for the political party so that women can feel safe in the party and also know that they have channels within which they can make complaints of sexual harassment or exploitation within the party,” Manu said.

The National Chairman of the NRM, Prince Chinedu Obi, said the party adopted the policy as part of efforts to promote inclusion and good governance in its internal processes.

Obi said he had challenged civil society organisations to assess the party’s commitment to inclusion when he assumed office, adding that the Nigerian Women Trust Fund was among the first organisations to engage the party on the issue.

He said the NRM had women occupying leadership positions across its structures, including four female state chairpersons and a woman serving as its national organising secretary.

According to him, the party’s choice of a female presidential candidate followed a competitive primary election in which she emerged ahead of other contestants.

He said the decision was based on the outcome of the party’s internal process and not merely an attempt to promote women.

Obi identified sexual harassment as one of the factors discouraging women from participating in politics, stressing the need to establish safeguards that would protect them.

“Part of the reason why most women don’t participate in politics is the issue of sexual harassment. And if you want the women to come to the table, you need to create a level playing field.

“And that playing field is that a woman can come to the party and be sure that nobody exploits her or harasses her or anything that will discourage their participation,” he said.

The chairman described the signing as an opportunity for the party to demonstrate its commitment to the policy, adding that the NRM was willing to work with other organisations to improve political inclusion.